In case you missed it | The fracking ad we´d like to hear

Does anybody else dive across the room to turn down the volume when that annoying commercial comes on featuring the Colorado ranch lady telling us how safe fracking is for the land, the water and the air?

Doubt that one was funded by the Sierra Club.

We got to thinking about how an alternate version of that ad might sound, a testimonial from a resident of, say, Pavillion, Wy.

Here it goes:

“Hi, I’m Pam Berns. My husband Richard and I own a ranch in Pavillion, where we raise our young son, Shaggy.

“Some people were surprised that we decided to allow fracking on our land. But we talked to the experts, got the facts, and guess what? Our dog died last week. And we no longer have to buy lighter fluid because we can just sprinkle our tapwater on the barbecue grill, toss a match, and it flames up real nice! My husband has lost his ability to smell and taste.

“So get the facts and find out for yourself. It may not be safe for the land, safe for the water or safe for the air, but it’s making oil and gas executives rich in the short term!”

WEBSITE BAD, OBAMACARE GOOD

Gosh, it’s too bad that the website for Obamacare has suddenly been improved so much.

It’s taken away a major target for Republicans who wanted to conflate the technology with the plan itself.

As much as the conservatives seized on the opportunity to criticize the health care initiative because of technical glitches, we hope both sides now recognize that it’s cheap to pile on to such an easy target.

Yes, the website was screwed up.

And it’s being fixed. Poor timing on the part of the Obama administration to not have its ducks in a row to serve hundreds of thousands of people in this online environment. But saying Obamacare sucks because of its website is like saying Walmart sucks because its automatic doors keep closing on people as they walk in.

OK, bad example. Walmart sucks for other reasons.

Yes, Obama has failed terribly on several fronts, not the least of which is his administration’s escalation — yes, over the Bush administration — of infringements on civil liberties and spying on our private information in the name of national security.

But this health care plan, for all its faults, has some positive attributes. Like restricting health care companies’ ability to deny coverage on the basis of pre-existing conditions. Like giving parents the ability to cover their kids’ health care well into their 20s.

Obama has screwed up in so many ways, and this effort is not perfect. But it’s an improvement. We hope the arguments can get back to the merits of the plan and away from the demerits the website has earned.